The Battle to End the VA Backlog: Update for July 26 – Aug 1, 2015

On Monday the VA reported that the disability compensation claims backlog1 decreased by more than 4,800 claims. There are currently about 111,000 claims in the backlog, meaning that they have been pending for more than 125 days. Since last week the total number of pending claims has decreased almost 4,200, meaning there are currently more than 369,000 pending disability compensation claims overall. Those in the backlog make up about 30% of the total number of claims.

To meet the deadline to end the VA backlog by the end of FY 2015, the VA must reduce the backlog by at least 2,648 claims per week. The VA has reduced the backlog by more than 82% since March 2013. Since that same time, the VA has processed 4,180 claims per week on average.

Unfortunately, the number of appeals pending at the VA continues to rise. There are more than 310,000 disability compensation claim appeals currently pending at the VA.

To read more about the VA disability compensation process and IAVA’s recommendations to eliminate the backlog, read IAVA’s 2014 Red Tape Report. To hear more about veterans’ experiences with VA benefits and healthcare, visit The Wait We Carry.

1IAVA continues to track and report backlogged claims to include claims not counted in the VA’s Rating Bundle. IAVA does this because we believe that claims from all veterans and their families should be included in the goal to end the VA Backlog by 2015.